Tony Abbott did something really unusual in parliament today. He stood up and profusely thanked the ABC.
The PM was super thankful to the ABC because it's doing a really good job of making opposition leader Bill Shorten look terrible at the moment.
Y'see last night the ABC aired the second episode of its three-part series, The Killing Season, which details the implosion within the Labor party during its six years in government.
And even though he declined to participate in the series, Shorten is one of the stars.
Last night we learned that as soon as it was clear that Julia Gillard would become prime minister, she was warned not to trust Bill Shorten.
The claim comes from former Gillard advisor Gerry Kitchener, who says the warning came from right-wing Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib once it became clear the Gillard had the numbers to topple Rudd.
"He [Bitar] pulled out a ministerial list and started going through his thoughts about Julia's next ministry," Kitchener said. "He then went through and had a rant about Kevin Rudd and how he couldn't be allowed in the ministry.
And then he came down to Bill Shorten's name and he said that you couldn't trust Bill Shorten, that he would do Julia in, that the one thing she couldn't do was ever give him [the ministry of] industrial relations cause he'd use it to solidify the union base to knock her off."
Arbib has today denied the conversation ever happened.
We heard similar statements in the first episode of The Killing Season.
But that time it was Rudd who was warned that Shorten, who was brand new to parliament in 2007 but was seen as extremely ambitious, was not to be trusted.
At the time some questioned Rudd's decision to leave Shorten out of his first ministry.
"The prime minister thought he was marginalising Bill Shorten by putting him in the disabilities portfolio," former Rudd chief of staff David Epstein said. "That was a silly approach to take. Why alienate someone who you think is a potential threat? It's better to keep them closer in my view."
Rudd says at the time he regarded Shorten as "one of the hopes of the side."
Which brings us back to Tony Abbott, who just could not be any happier right now.
The PM was asked today about a deal he struck with the Greens to cut retirees' pensions.
But why answer the question when you could attack Bill Shorten instead?
"I am a little surprised that the leader of the opposition should choose to start question time today talking about trust given what we were told on The Killing Season last night," the PM said.
"The former PM [Gillard] was advised, you couldn't trust Bill Shorten that he would do Julia in, and that is exactly what happened," he said.
Abbott then did something that must have felt really weird to him. He thanked the ABC.
"And I want to say publicly thank you to the ABC. Thank you to the ABC. I don't normally say thank you to the ABC but I have to say Australia is indebted to you on this instance."
And of course, the PM isn't the only government minister who is currently loving the ABC sick.
If anyone wants to know how to connect asylum seekers to the #KillingSeason, Scott Morrison has done it...
The Killing Season - the worst of the Kardashians and Labor narcissism combined. Thank God they are gone. #auspoI
Some Liberals are even using the series to raise funds.
And even some Labor heavyweights got in on the fun.
We are grateful to @samdastyari for his role in dramatic reconstructions #auspol
But as usual, we'll let Greg "Fuck This" Combet sum things up.
